64% of US voters believe Trump-Russia investigations are damaging country – poll

The majority of American voters believe the investigations into Russia and President Donald Trump are hurting the country, and would like to see Congress focus on other matters, including healthcare and the economy, according to a newly-released poll.

The Harvard-Harris poll, provided to The Hill, found that 64 percent of respondents believe the probes into President Trump and Russia are damaging the country.

Fifty-five percent said they would rather Washington focus on other issues, while just 44 percent said the country should remain focused on the Russia investigations.

Still, the majority of respondents (58 percent) said they are concerned about allegations of obstruction of justice against Trump, with the same number saying they're worried about possible ties between Trump and the Kremlin.

When asked about the alleged collusion between Trump's administration and Moscow, 52 percent said they don't believe the president coordinated with the Kremlin to influence the 2016 election. However, 54 percent said they believe his associates may have done so.

Despite many believing collusion may have occurred, 62 percent said there is currently no hard evidence to support the claims.

An overwhelming majority (73 percent) said they're concerned that the Russia investigations have caused Washington to lose sight of the issues most important to them. Of those respondents, 81 percent identified as Republican, 74 percent as Independents, and 68 percent as Democrats.

“While the voters have a keen interest in any Russian election interference, they are concerned that the investigations have become a distraction for the president and Congress that is hurting rather than helping the country,” Harvard-Harris co-director Mark Penn said, as quoted by The Hill. “Most voters believe that the president's actions don't rise to the level of impeachable offenses, even if some of them were inappropriate.”

Meanwhile, 68 percent of respondents said they believe former FBI Director James Comey's claims that Trump asked him to drop an investigation into former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, despite Trump denying those claims.

Fifty-eight percent said they believe Comey's memos about his private dealings with Trump are accurate, and 56 percent said they disapprove of Trump firing Comey.

Even so, the majority of respondents(58 percent) believe that Trump's dealings with Comey do not constitute obstruction of justice.

When asked about what Trump's fate should be, 45 percent said the investigations into the president should end with no action, while 41 percent said they should end in impeachment. Fourteen percent said the president should be censured by Congress.

“Most voters believe that the president's actions don't rise to the level of impeachable offenses even if some of them were inappropriate,” Penn said. “There does seem to be about 40 percent very dissatisfied with the president and looking to remove him from office if possible, but the majority of voters think that all of this is going nowhere.”

Sixty-two percent said they believe there is a campaign to delegitimize Trump as president of the United States. Of those, 87 percent were Republicans, 63 percent were Independents, and 40 percent were Democrats.

The Harvard-Harris poll surveyed 2,237 voters between June 19 and June 21, with a party affiliation breakdown of 35 percent Democrat, 29 percent Republican, 30 percent Independent, and 6 percent "other." The full poll results are due to be posted online later this week.